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Definitions
"aquifer" means a geological structure or formation, or an artificial landfill, that is permeated with water or is capable of being permeated with water. # "aquifer interference activity" means an activity involving any of the following: ## the penetration of an aquifer, ## the interference with water in an aquifer, ## the obstruction of the flow of water in an aquifer, ## the taking of water from an aquifer in the course of carrying out mining, or any other activity prescribed by the regulations, ## the disposal of water taken from an aquifer as referred to in paragraph (d). # "biological diversity" or "biodiversity" means the variety of life forms represented by plants, animals and other organisms and micro-organisms, the genes that they contain, and the ecosystems and ecosystem processes of which they form a part; # "drainage basin" or "catchment area" is an extent or area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean. The drainage basin includes both the streams and rivers that convey the water as well as the land surfaces from which water drains into those channels. # "drainage service" means that part of drainage pipework up to its point of connection to a water supply authority's drainage system. # "drainage service pipe" means a pipe connecting a drainage service to a water supply authority's drainage system, and includes the plumbing fittings connected to the pipe. # "drainage work" means a work (such as a pump, pipe or channel) that is constructed or used for the purpose of draining water from land, including a reticulated system of such works, and includes all associated pipes, sluices, sluicegates, valves, metering equipment and other equipment, but does not include: ## any sewage work, or ## any work declared by the regulations not to be a drainage work. # "domestic wastewater" means— ## water used in the disposal of human waste; and ## water used for personal washing; and ## water used for washing clothes or dishes; and ## water used in a swimming pool; # "to drill" in relation to a well means to drill the well or to excavate the well in any other manner and includes to deepen or widen an existing well; # "ecosystem" means a dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit; # "effluent" means domestic wastewater or industrial wastewater; # "estuary" means: ## any part of a river whose level is periodically or intermittently affected by coastal tides, or ## any lake or other partially enclosed body of water that is periodically or intermittently open to the sea, or ## anything declared by the regulations to be an estuary, but does not include anything declared by the regulations not to be an estuary. # "floodplain" means any area of land adjacent to a watercourse, lake or estuary that is periodically inundated with water and includes any other area designated as a floodplain. # "lake" means a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin that is surrounded by land. # "natural resources" includes— ## soil; ## water resources; ## geological features and landscapes; ## native vegetation, native animals and other native organisms; ## ecosystems; # "rainwater harvesting" is the accumulating and storing, of rainwater. Watercourses are natural rainwater harvesting systems. The rate at which water can be collected from such systems is dependent on the area of the system, its efficiency, and the intensity of rainfall (i.e. annual precipitation (mm per annum) x square meter of catchment area x percolation efficiency = liters per annum yield). In the case of channelized rivers efficiency is close to 0. # "river" includes: ## any watercourse, whether perennial or intermittent and whether comprising a natural channel or a natural channel artificially restructured, and ## any tributary, branch or other watercourse into or from which a watercourse referred to in paragraph (a) flows, and ## anything declared by the regulations to be a river, whether or not it also forms part of a lake or estuary, but does not include anything declared by the regulations not to be a river. # "sewage effluent" means affluent from any sewerage system or sewage disposal works and includes sullage from open drains; # "sewer" means any conduit pipe or channel, open or closed, carrying sewage or trade effluent; # "sewage work" means a work (such as a pump, pipe or channel) that is constructed or used for the purpose of removing sewage or other waste matter from land, including a reticulated system of such works, and includes: ## all associated pipes, valves, pumps and other equipment, and ## all sewage treatment or sewage processing plants and their outfalls and drainage beds, but does not include any work declared by the regulations not to be a sewage work. # "stormwater infrastructure" means infrastructure established for the purposes of stormwater management; # "sub-surface water", or "groundwater", is water located in the pore space of soil and rocks. It is also water that is flowing within aquifers below the water table. Sometimes it is useful to make a distinction between sub-surface water that is closely associated with surface water and deep sub-surface water in an aquifer. # "surface water" means— ## water flowing over land (except in a watercourse)— ## after having fallen as rain or hail or having precipitated in any other manner; or ## after rising to the surface naturally from underground; ## water of the kind referred to in paragraph (a) that has been collected in a dam or reservoir; ## water of the kind referred to in paragraph (a) that is contained in any stormwater infrastructure; # "to take" water from a water resource includes— ## to take water by pumping or siphoning the water; ## to stop, impede or divert the flow of water over land (whether in a watercourse or not) for the purpose of collecting the water; ## to stop, impede or direct the flow of water in any storm water infrastructure for the purpose of collecting the water, or to extract any water from storm water infrastructure; ## to divert the flow of water in a watercourse from the watercourse; ## to release water from a lake; ## to permit water to flow under natural pressure from a well; ## to permit stock to drink from a watercourse, a natural or artificial lake, a dam or reservoir; ## to cause, permit or suffer any activity referred to in a preceding paragraph; # "underground water" means— ## water occurring naturally below ground level; ## water pumped, diverted or released into a well for storage underground; # "water bore" means a bore that is used: ## for the purpose of finding an aquifer, or ## for the purpose of testing the production capacity or water quality of an aquifer, or ## for the purpose of taking water from, or discharging anything into, an aquifer, or ## for any other purpose prescribed by the regulations, being a bore that has been artificially created, widened, lengthened or modified by means of drilling, boring, augering, digging or jetting. # "watercourse" means a river, creek or other natural watercourse (whether modified or not) in which water is contained or flows whether permanently or from time to time and includes— ## a dam or reservoir that collects water flowing in a watercourse; ## a lake through which water flows; ## a channel (but not a channel declared by regulation to be excluded from the ambit of this definition) into which the water of a watercourse has been diverted; ## part of a watercourse; ## an estuary through which water flows; ## any other natural resource, or class of natural resource, designated as a watercourse for the purposes of this Act by an NRM plan; # "water source" means the whole or any part of: ## one or more rivers, lakes or estuaries, or ## one or more places where water occurs naturally on or below the surface of the ground, and includes the coastal waters of the State. # "waterfront land" means: ## the bed of any river, together with any land lying between the bed of the river and a line drawn parallel to, and the prescribed distance inland of, the highest bank of the river, or ## the bed of any lake, together with any land lying between the bed of the lake and a line drawn parallel to, and the prescribed distance inland of, the shore of the lake, or ## the bed of any estuary, together with any land lying between the bed of the estuary and a line drawn parallel to, and the prescribed distance inland of, the mean high water mark of the estuary, or ## if the regulations so provide, the bed of the coastal waters of the State, and any land lying between the shoreline of the coastal waters and a line drawn parallel to, and the prescribed distance inland of, the mean high water mark of the coastal waters, ## where the prescribed distance is 40 metres or (if the regulations prescribe a lesser distance, either generally or in relation to a particular location or class of locations) that lesser distance. Land that falls into 2 or more of the categories referred to in paragraphs (a), (b) and © may be waterfront land by virtue of any of the paragraphs relevant to that land. # "water management work" means a water supply work, drainage work, sewage work or flood work, and includes a work in the nature of a water supply work (being a work that receives water from a water supply work under the control or management of a water supply authority). # "water resource" means a watercourse or lake, surface water, underground water, stormwater (to the extent that it is not within a preceding item) and effluent; # "water supply service" means that part of water supply pipework from its point of connection to a water supply authority's water supply system up to and including its outlet valves. # "well" means— ## an opening in the ground excavated for the purpose of obtaining access to underground water; ## an opening in the ground excavated for some other purpose but that gives access to underground water; ## a natural opening in the ground that gives access to underground water; # "wetland" means an area that comprises land that is permanently or periodically inundated with water (whether through a natural or artificial process) where the water may be static or flowing and may range from fresh water to saline water and where the inundation with water influences the biota or ecological processes (whether permanently or from time to time) and includes any other area designated as a wetland— but does not include— ## a dam or reservoir that has been constructed by a person wholly or predominantly for the provision of water for primary production or human consumption; or ## an area within an estuary or within any part of the sea; or ## an area excluded from the ambit of this definition by the regulations; Category:River Act